Caregivers and hospital leaders burst into applause and shed a few happy tears as glitter rained down at the announcement Wednesday, Oct. 19, that Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford has been designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Chief Nursing Officer Julie Balluck celebrates with Julie Holland, clinical excellence program manager, hospital president Jared Shelton, and Brandon Goetz, vice president, professional and support services.

The designation is the first for the hospital. It is especially notable because much of the preparation and record-keeping required for the application was done while the hospital was battling COVID-19 surges, said Jeanette Ives Erickson, D.N.P., R.N., NEA-BC, FAAN, chair of the Commission for the Magnet Recognition Program®.

She announced the designation via a Teams call to Julie Balluck, D.N.P., M.S.N., R.N., NEA-BC, the hospital’s chief nursing officer.

"It was exciting for our entire nursing team to be recognized for their dedication and hard work to improve patient outcomes and elevate the nurse practice environment,” Balluck said. “And I was personally proud to see the team's efforts paid off with eight exemplars recognized with our initial Magnet designation."

Exemplars are areas where Texas Health HEB particularly excelled. It is unusual for a hospital to have eight recognized in a first-time Magnet designation, said Julie Holland, D.N.P., R.N., NEA-BC, program manager, Department of Clinical Excellence. She played a large part in the Magnet work and thanked the leaders for their openness as she guided the process.

The exemplars are awarded for outperforming the national mean and a comparison cohort in a given area. Texas Health HEB’s exemplars were awarded in nurse satisfaction; ambulatory patient satisfaction for patient education, safety, responsiveness and careful listening; Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIs), hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs); and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs).

Jared Shelton, hospital president, told the standing room only crowd in a hospital conference room that he was glad masking policies recently changed because he could see their faces: “You guys have been through a lot, and I see smiles and a few tears and just the relief of getting the payoff for all the hard work. You deserve every bit of recognition and everything that comes with this designation.”

As of Oct. 19, a total of 597 hospitals worldwide and 56 in Texas had the Magnet designation, including 9.7 percent of hospitals in the U.S., according to the ANCC.  Six wholly owned Texas Health hospitals are Magnet-recognized.

Consumers looking for quality healthcare are likely to find significantly better outcomes at Magnet hospitals, according to studies such as this one in the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

The designation every four years recognizes quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in nursing practice. It also identifies environments where nurses and clinical staff work collaboratively within a positive culture that supports new ideas and evidence-based work practices.